Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, can I say that I appreciate that the member for Griffith has actually turned up. The shadow Attorney-General and the shadow minister for justice are both members of the House of Representatives, yet, astonishingly, they could not even be bothered to come in for this consideration-in-detail stage, which I think is just extraordinary. So I give you points for that at least. I also appreciate that you gave me some very detailed questions. I do not want to disrespect all those questions, so I will say something in a general sense, if you do not mind, and then we can have a look at some of the detail on notice, if you are happy for me to do that.

Can I say in the first instance that we are very committed to making sure that vulnerable Australians do have access to justice. This budget builds on the commitment that we had in previous years when we were in government. The government has renewed its commitment to the ongoing funding of legal aid commissions and will be negotiating with the states and territories to agree on a one-year extension of the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services. The agreement provides ongoing Commonwealth funding for legal aid commissions and will be extended by one year, until 30 June 2015. Extending the agreement will have no impact on the budget bottom line, because ongoing funding for legal aid commissions was already published in the forward estimates. The government is considering options for future legal assistance arrangements from 1 July 2015. It will focus on holistic delivery of front-line services to the most vulnerable members of our community, and the Abbott government is strongly committed to that. Extending the agreement will allow time for the government to consider the findings of the Productivity Commission's inquiry into access-to-justice arrangements and the review of the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services. This will also provide the government with the opportunity to develop a medium- to long-term approach to ensure equitable and sustainable service delivery.

I appreciate that there were a whole series of very detailed questions in the five minutes that the member for Griffith used. I will endeavour to get her the most sensible responses to some of those questions, if she could just accept my response in general terms for what we are doing in the future, pending the review that the Productivity Commission is undertaking.

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